Cory Morgan: Boycotting Loblaw Will Do Nothing to Reduce Food Costs

Commentary People prefer to see simple, quick solutions to problems when they encounter them. Unfortunately, most problems are complex and take time to address. Increasing food costs are pressuring many Canadians, but there’s no simple solution on the horizon. Many people are focusing their ire on retail grocers over the problem, but their anger is misguided and non-productive. The attempt to create a national boycott of Loblaw stores for the month of May will accomplish nothing at best, or lead to higher grocery prices at worst. The myth that retail grocery chains are somehow gouging Canadians on pricing just won’t go away. It doesn’t help when politicians like NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh tries to coin the term “greedflation” when speaking of grocers, or legacy media outlets breathlessly report on how Loblaw has seen a 4.5 percent increase in revenue while forgetting to mention the profit margin is a meagre 3.4 percent. It’s hard to understand what boycotters feel they may accomplish....